


Movie Night

by Baozhale



Category: Young Wizards - Diane Duane
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-01
Updated: 2013-07-01
Packaged: 2017-12-16 18:48:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,021
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/865383
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Baozhale/pseuds/Baozhale
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sker'ret and Kit are over at Nita's house for a movie night- they're planning to alternate Earth movies and Rirhait movies. An Earth movie is first. It's Star Trek. Also, they had to set up the DVD player, and yes, Nita's dad is around.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Movie Night

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Robotamputee](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Robotamputee/gifts).



“Why can't we use your place?” Nita asked. “Instead of having to set up another DVD box to catch channels from all over the galaxy.”

“Helen's coming home tomorrow. You know how that-”

“Helen?” the centipede-looking creature to their left turned one of his many eyes towards Kit.

“My sister,” Kit sighed. “The one who thinks wizardry is something embarrassing. Or that I sold my soul to the devil or something.”

“The devil or something?” was Mr. Callahan's greeting, it seemed. Followed by “Oh, Sker'ret! Neighbor's started a remodeling project and I, erm, offered to dispose of the 'waste' for her. I don't suppose...”

“I'd be happy to, Mr. Callahan. Where is this 'waste'?”

“In Nita's...” he searched for the word.

“My otherspace pocket?” she offered.

“Thanks. The spot where you appear and disappear should be fine- does that work for you, Sker'ret?”

“Yes!”

Kit still wasn't sure how eyestalks could be so expressive, but he could tell that Sker'ret was excited. If he had the ability to salivate, he probably would have been. ( _Always_ hungry, he was.) Kit watched all those legs follow Nita out, then looked back at Nita's father before turning his attention back to the DVD player. “That's an excuse to get Neets out if I ever heard one. What's up?”

Harry Callahan shifted uncomfortably, watching Kit fiddle with the . “Nita finally referred to you as her boyfriend. As her father, I'm _obligated_ to have an awkward one-on-one talk with you about how if you ever hurt her, I will dismember you. Even knowing you wouldn't and that I couldn't if I tried.”

Kit stifled a laugh. Harry noticed.

“Yes, I know. You're more of the 'hit her over the head and bring her home so she doesn't lay down her life for the universe' type. You do get an exception for minor injuries caused that way.”

“Well, yeah. I can't do it when that kind of sacrifice is _actually_ needed without someone else who'll do it, and if I put myself there instead...”

“She won't let you?”

“I've tried.”

Kit watched Mr. Callahan's face. He couldn't know how hard it must be to watch his daughters go on errantry without him, knowing that either (or both) could _correctly_ conclude that saving the universe meant sacrificing their own lives and not come back. He couldn't even be there to save them, like Kit could, and Kit worried enough for three. Their silence was interrupted by Nita's return.

“We should bring him to the dump. I am not even joking. He will fix our pollution issues, all on his own, just by _eating_.”

Kit laughed. A little bit forced, but still a laugh. “ _After_ movie night, or he'll never come back. We need him to choose the Rirhait movie!”

“Is it working yet?” she gestured at the TV.

“Almost. It's easier to get galactic cable intentionally than to get it from a fight between the TV and the DVD.”

Harry interrupted. “I'll still be able to watch the Earth channels, right?”

“Of course. One remote for Earth, one for galactic cable. SKER'RET, GET IN HERE AND CHOOSE A MOVIE!”

“I was under the impression that we were watching the Earth movie first?” their centipede-esque friend inquired.

“Uh...”

Nita pulled _Star Trek_ out of apparently nowhere and tossed it to Kit. “I'd been telling him about this. He thought it was a funny concept, so be prepared for some Rirhait commentary.”

The attack on the _Kelvin_ , with Kirk's sacrifice, brought the first comment. “Was he a wizard?”

“ _Sevarfrith_ fiction,” Nita pointed out.

“Sev-Sevarfit?” Harry Callahan asked.

“Wizardry has to be kept hidden, people don't know about it or think it's selling your soul to the devil or some such thing,” Kit explained. “Earth is _sevarfrith_. If it weren't, telling someone you're a wizard wouldn't lead to them thinking you've gone insane.” (Kit wondered if Harry was thinking back to when he and Nita had come clean about wizardry on vacation, just in time for Nita to almost be eaten by a shark.)

“Oh.”

Sker'ret looked disappointed, then hopeful. “But wouldn't there still have been wizards on board? People wouldn't know, but they'd be there.”

“If the _Kelvin_ were real, there would be. But they weren't written in, unless Alex or Roberto know. Even then...” Kit trailed off.

Nita put her hand out and her manual appeared. Kit looked at her. “You're gonna miss the bar fight!”

“What is a bar fight?”

Harry had to laugh at that. “A bar fight is when people are in a bar...”

“How would people fit in a bar?”

“A bar is a place that serves drinks.”

“Oh! That is not what I thought 'bar' meant.”

Nita waved her manual at them just as Captain Pike bought Kirk a drink. “Roberto Orci, he's an Advisory.”

“Advisory?” her father asked.

“It's a rank of sorts,” Kit said. “Tom and Carl were Advisories, now they're Seniors. It means local wizards go to them for help. For some definition of local, anyways.”

“Meaning?”

“There may well be practicing wizards on board. They'd just be hiding it!” Nita said.

“Is this doctor person one?” Sker'ret asked as Bones gave his litany about space being disease and death.

“Maybe,” Kit said. “Never thought about it before.”

Minutes later, Nita gasped. Kit looked at her. Harry looked at her. Sker'ret looked concerned. “Are you alright?” he asked.

“UHURA!” she said, then started laughing. “UHURA!”

Harry Callahan looked stunned. Kit joined in her laughter. “Uhura.”

Sker'ret now looked more confused than concerned. “What is an Uhura?”

“She-just-watch” Kit sputtered between gasps. “Linguist!”

“Could give 'Mela a run for her money,” Nita added “Watch.”

The four watched as _everyone_ took Uhura's translations as fact, even those accustomed to xenolinguists far more experienced than she had any reason to be. She was asked if she knew the Romulan language- she “knew” all three variants, of course. Or... perhaps she listened to them through the Speech? It was a theory. Sker'ret's lack of cultural knowledge... a set of fresh eyes meant a whole new way to look at _Star Trek._ Maybe any science fiction...

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [A Wizard of Nairobi](https://archiveofourown.org/works/5268731) by [Stella959](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stella959/pseuds/Stella959)




End file.
